Great Gifts for Fun and Learning

Regular LEGOs for older children

 When birthdays and holidays come around, grandparents want to give special gifts little ones. While there are many expensive, electronic and mechanical toys available, often the lasting favorite toys are simple and easy to use. Good toys for young children encourage discovery, learning and creativity. They are sturdy and easily handled by little fingers.Here are some gifts recommended by teachers and parents who have seen these toys in use at home and in preschool.

Teacher Recommended Gift Ideas:
All kinds of art/craft supplies like pencils, drawing paper, crayons, washable markers and paints (with supervision), child scissors, glue, colored paper.
Play-dough (store bought or made at home) and little rolling pins, cutters, etc.
  Large plastic connecting pieces like giant Legos, Duplo 

Large LEGOs or Duplos for smaller children

(Regular sized Lego blocks have too many little pieces for very young children.) About age four kids are ready for regular sized Lego pieces.
  Easy wooden puzzles, bath toys, magnetic alphabet letters and number (with supervision) and easy to catch balls for inside and outside. Inflatable beach balls work well inside during cold months.
   Large cardboard building blocks—perfect for stacking and making all sorts of roads, towers, etc. (Search  for Giant Building Block sets by Imagiday, Imagibricks or Melissa Basic Cardboard Blocks.)
  Sandbox and snow toys—plastic pails, shovels, diggers, trucks, etc.,

Easy wooden puzzles

simple to move cars and trucks.
   Baby dolls, simple musical instruments like whistles, drums, horns;  play tools, things for playing dress-up, magnifying glass, piggy banks (Savvy Pig), inside play tent, a snugly blanket, and stuffed animals for imaginary play.
Books Best
  The number one recommendation is BOOKS!  Children need to be read to several times each day if they are to become readers,
  Look for books that introduce the alphabet, colors, shapes other beginning concepts in a creative way like  “Now I Eat My ABCs” by Abrams, “Pets ABC” by Dahl,  “Achoo! Bang! Crash! “By MacDonald, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Martin, “Click, Clack” by Cronin and “Mouse Paint” by Walsh “10 Little Rubber Ducks” by Carle, “Counting Kisses” by Katz, “Shapes” by Crowther, “Too Big, Too Small, Just Right” by Minters,  “I Stink!” by McMullan, “Yes” and other books by Alborough , and “What Will Fat Cat Sit On?” by Thomas, “Llama, Llama” by Dewdney, “Can You Growl Like a Bear?” by Butler, “Sheep in a Jeep” by Shaw and Apple, “Chickens to the Rescue” by Hillelman, “Corduroy” by Freeman, Moon books by Asch, “Very Hungry Caterpillar” and other stories by Eric Carle,  word books by Richard Scarry, “Where’s Spot?” by Hill,  “Go Dog Go!”, “Put Me in the Zoo” and other titles by Seuss.
  Check book lists at your library, the All-Time Best Books for Preschoolers, Top Books for Toddlers at "http://www.parents.com" www.parents.com, or Trelease-on-reading.com.
Sketches: Mark Nowicki
Photo: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio, 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Some Toys Help Kids Grow

“serious” block play

Some toys help children at every developmental stage.  Blocks are examples of extremely valuable learning tools. Studies show that children who play with blocks are better in geometry and algebra in middle school.
   Probably the first blocks are cloth for young toddlers who still chew on materials. These safe squishy blocks can be squeezed, thrown, and kicked.
  Older toddlers get down to “serious” block play.  They learn how to hold on to blocks. They feel how heavy they are, can learn to sort them by the bright colors, carry them around, or float them in the tub.
Building Towers
  Toddlers can experiment with nesting, stacking, knocking down and laying blocks side by side on the floor.  Adults can get on the floor

masking tape on the floor

and stack and knock down towers with them. Children love the sound. They love to fill containers, dump, pick up, stack, and compare towers. Carry on a conversation while playing so they will add words to their vocabulary.
  Three year olds continue playing on the floor so that’s where adults need to be. They will start pretending, constructing buildings for cars, small animals, and figures.
They will love to stack cans from the kitchen cupboard (carefully).
  Young children can be introduced to snap together blocks like Mega Bloks  (giant LEGO type blocks) or large cardboard blocks used for giant towers and houses big enough for family members.
  Preschoolers can play games of sorting by colors, size, and shape.  They can practice counting while they put away blocks and learn a one to one correspondence. Make a rectangle or square out of masking tape on the floor and help them fill it in with blocks like a puzzle.
Moving Toward Robots
  Four and five year olds are ready for large LEGOS, Trio blocks, and others to make imaginative houses, robots, space ships, and dinosaurs. Their play is all about exploring, constructing more complex structures, and following picture instructions.
  Once children become obsessed with LEGOS

play is all about exploring

they will need help organizing the pieces. Construct on a bed sheet so all parts can be found, scooped up, and sorted in smaller sized bins.
 Children will also need help learning it is normal for creations to fall apart.  They learn by putting structures back together and making them better. Offer help. Talk about frustration and taking a break from a project. Children will learn to be resilient, persistent, and determined. They’ll need a safe place for their partially constructed masterpieces away from younger children.

Lego robotics

Whether building sets or their own creations children learn complex patterns, classifying, sequencing, counting, fractions, problem solving, and cooperation. They learn how to be structural engineers working with gravity, balance, stability, and beauty—all this from blocks. Third graders on up are ready for Lego robotics.
Photos, Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Help Discover the Young Engineers in Your Family

Have you ever observed children creating something from Legos or TRIO blocks? They are very focused. Here's how adults can help nurture these “engineering” skills in young children. 

Organize Blocks

  Sometimes young children need to be left to just play and experiment with their blocks.  Other times families can teach them some engineering skills Does this mean you have to be an engineer? Not at all, here are some simple ideas to help you interact easily. Following step- by- step pictures to build a project is a great way to start.

 Discuss how sorting and organizing materials by color and shape will help each time they build. Then provide and label some see through containers. It will be easier to search for parts and clean up.

Organize Thinking

  Ask children to choose a colored diagram of something they would like to make to make from a book of ideas provided in block kit packages. This book can be a source of ideas and help children come up with their own ideas or make modifications.     Guild children toward a simple project you think will be successful. If you are using a step- by- step book, help children look at the picture guide carefully. Count out how many of each kind of block is needed for building and place in piles. If there are enough blocks, make your own project, too.

  Discuss how you are going to start making the project. Encourage your children to think out loud and ask questions as they build. Say your thoughts out loud. Show what thinking looks and sounds like.  Show them that when they make projects with others it is fun to talk back and forth, ask questions, and share ideas even though sometimes others may not use them. You are helping young children think through math problems, since building teaches geometry and many other skills.

  Compare the project you are building with the picture of the step- by- step photos.  Do the pictures look like your project? Do children have an idea to make it better or different?

What Else Can We Do?

  Challenge each other. Play a game called “Can You Make What I Make?”  The name says it all. Take pictures of the final projects and send them to cousins.  Can they make the projects, too?

  Investigate what happens if a piece is added and it interferes with stability or balance? Encourage family members to give Mega Blocks. Duplo, K”NEX, Bristle Blocks, Gears, or other engineering toys as gifts.

Make a card game with a list of projects like house, truck, fence, airplane, or robot. Pick a card and place it face down. Can one person make the object and the other guess what it is?

  Children can help adults put something together by handing tools for a short time.

  Check the library for engineering books like ‘The Lego Ideas Book” by Lipkowitz, or the “Lego Adventure Books” series.

More Ideas and Activities

For more ways to encourage music and expend energy on long winter days see the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site www.grandparentsteachtoo.org.

Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

Photos: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Child_playing_with_unit_blocks.jpeg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Houten_blokkendoos.jpg